September 9, 2009

Dragonette: We're going places you never dreamed about

Dragonette Pick Up the Phone

As a big fan of Dragonette'sdebut album, Galore, I have to admit a sense of disappointment at their recent singles Fixin' ToThrill - it didn't - and the other one with the country video,Gone TooFar. But a Man In The Know alerted me at the time that there was much I'd love on their new album. He was right: Pick Up The Phone is sublime (and actually superior to the mellow remix that leaked this summer).

The video has great lighting and color effects and a few moments that remind me of early Madonna videos, with Martine running around having a laugh. She's cut from the same effortlessly cool cloth as Deborah Harry and Pat Benatar: confident, a little bit insouciant, and beautiful without using that beauty as a crutch. It's only the smart boys who realize some of the tomboys were actually the hottest girls. And Martine has great style - look at her feet in this clip. To quote Prince, "Isn't life a little better with a pair of good shoes?"

I don't know how, but I'd somehow got it into my head Dragonette were a lot more aggressive, hard electro, and clashy in sound; this isn't like that at all, nor are "Competition" and "Another Day," and they're all beautiful, great songs. Several years too late, but I may have to go buy that album from iTunes...and get excited about this new release.